RINO Jim Kolbe to face CONSERVATIVE Challenger in Arizona Primaries

Jim Behnke kindly shared with me a copy of the E-mail you sent to him. Your support is genuinely appreciated. Thanks to hundreds of supporters in Cochise, Pima and Santa Cruz counties, his candidacy is now assured of having enough petition signatures to get his name on the September ballot to compete against Mr. Kolbe. The winner of the September election will go on to become the Republican candidate on the November General Election ballot Vs. the Democrat challenger.

The loser in September will fade into the sunset...exactly what Behnke supporters want Mr. Kolbe to do. But we have a lot of work ahead of us before we can make it happen.

Looming ahead of are two gargantuan goals which must be surmounted before the September Primary.

(1) Name recognition, i.e., making sure Mr. Behnke's name becomes instantly identifiable as the worthy Republican who's running against the entrenched Mr. Kolbe.

(2) Raising sufficient funds to enable us to fulfill goal No.1. Absent sufficient money it will be difficult to compete on a level playing field against Mr. Kolbe's and his sizeable war chest - estimated a $1.6Million

But there's something we can do to remedy this imbalance. If we care enough about having a real man of Jim Behnke's intelligence and integrity representing us in Washington we must find a way to motivate thousands of other like-minded folks to send us contributions to fund our war chest. Most of us give too little thought to what it takes financially to get candidates elected to public office. From now to September the road will be tough so the tough Behnke supporters must demonstrate their electoral enthusiasm with contributions.

Winning the September Primary is critical. If Jim Behnke wins in September.... then (but only then) will we have access to Republican Party funds and support. Until then....we're pretty much on our own.

For Mr. Kolbe the September Primary is make or break. If he loses....that's the end of the line. So the more Jim Behnke turns up the heat....the more compelling will likely be Kolbe's need to spend his money and flood the print and broadcast media with his ads.

I am greatly encouraged to read of your willingness to help. Please forward this E-mail to your friends and neighbors and if you're willing...add a personal note from you suggesting that they send their contributions to Behnke for Congress, PO Box 158, Hereford, AZ 85615.

In many ways, a case can be made that Jim Behnke's appeal ought to be nationwide because securing our international borders and rigorously enforcing our country's immigration laws is no longer just a regional issue but one which concerns everyone who has grown tired of Jim Kolbe's band-aid "solutions" and INS impotence.

Behnke will soon have a donor-friendly website to make it easy for his supporters to donate on-line, using their credit cards. But until that feature is up and running, checks will do just as well.

In the past few years, I've finally seen the local Republican Party turn against Jim Kolbe. I guess my complaints about him didn't fall on deaf ears and they now know that he is a RINO.

Former State Representative Bill McGibbon just wrote this editorial that was sent out to all subscribers to the local Republican Party's email list. It is reflective of the current mood of the local party:

Now is the Time
( A personal political editorial, by Bill McGibbon)

Scarcely a day goes by most of us don't complain about something that is wrong with our society. If you take the time to really analyze what you're complaining about, more often than not, it's the result of something we have brought on ourselves, either through action, inaction, ignorance, apathy, or downright stupidity. I challenge you to come up with a single issue that couldn't have been avoided or significantly improved had we as a society known better, acted sooner or differently, or not been so stupid and/or ignorant in responding to warning signs. We clearly could have done things differently, (and better), when it comes to public education, political correctness, the environment, e.g., (Endangered Species Act), "Clean Elections," (fiasco ! ), Indian gaming, immigration, campaign finance reform, and dozens if not hundreds of other issues. So what's the point you say, (?) - hindsight is always better than foresight (!).

The point is, THIS IS AN ELECTION YEAR, and if we don't pay very close attention and make extraordinary efforts to educate ourselves, our families, and friends as to the issues and candidates, we are going to exacerbate an already nearly untenable situation. Between now and September, we all need to become politically active, politically savvy, and politically aggressive in order to protect and advance our collective political, social, and economic agendas. No party is exempt from blame - we have to make changes/improvements whenever opportunity knocks. Kolbe and McCain are consistently and flagrantly arrogant and hypocritical. They have become so entrenched in office that they are totally out of touch with their constituencies and the legitimate issues of this State. We have an opportunity to improve on one of these individuals; let's see if we're up to the challenge! Needless to say the current situation in the State Senate is unacceptable - if we can't return the Senate to Republican control we have no place to go but down, if we indeed can sink any lower. The same holds true for the U.S. Senate; if we can't give President Bush a Congress that will work with him instead of against him, we will continue to have uncontrollable budgets, no new judicial appointments, questionable national defense and homeland security, and members of Congress that are more interested in perpetuating their own claims to office than they are in the national interest.

What about our own Governor's race ? This is a particularly important race as we set the priorities and direction of this State for the next four years. The leading candidates are Salmon (R) and Nepolitano (D) - the differences and attitudes between them couldn't be greater. In the interest of full disclosure, you need to know that I am working for Matt Salmon. I served in the State Legislature with him, after which, he served us superbly for three terms in the U.S. Congress, and now he hopes to bring his State and Federal experience home to help us solve the State's financial mess, immigration, urban/rural frictions, and the daily abuse we take as a State, without recourse, from the Federal Government.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Matt's opponent is Janet (Reno) Napolitano (Clinton). She is carpetbagger plain and simple. She moved to Az to advance the liberal Clinton/Kennedy Eastern agenda. You may remember her from the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas fiasco. She has some very strange priorities and policies and virtually no historic, economic, or social ties to Arizona. She selectively enforces and interprets the laws to advance her own liberal, gay and lesbian, radically green environmental, (she has pledged to permit the Sierra Club to designate the next director of the State Land Department), radically feminist, and pro union, (they've raised most if not all of her nominating petition signatures and campaign contributions) agendas. She is smart, articulate, dangerous, and supported by every liberal and left wing organization and media throughout the nation, (and probably even some abroad).

There is an old saying: " The main reason things never get done is because the other guy is waiting for you to do it, much the same as you are waiting for him." My friends, we can't let another election go by without resetting the course, at the Federal, State, and local levels. If we delay or fail to act we are just making the situation that much more difficult the next time an opportunity arises. The incremental movement in this country away from our core family, moral, ethical, social, and nationalistic values is unacceptable and should be reversed immediately if not sooner ! Give me a call if I can be of any assistance or provide any background information or materials. I'm convinced that "NOW IS THE TIME !!!

If Behnke and Salmon are going to help close the border and not pander to Mexico, then they will get my vote.

From Jim Behnke's website:

"The major issue facing us today," says Lt. Col. Behnke, "is our open and 'out-of control' border with Mexico. If we are to win our fight against terrorism, this border must be sealed," he says, "and it must be sealed immediately."
"We now know that Eastern Europeans and Middle Easterners have learned about our gigantic 'hole in the fence', and are coming across in numbers that should scare us." The retired military officer says, "The best way to secure the border would be to employ U.S. military forces to assist the Border Patrol and Immigration and Naturalization Services, and act as a force multiplier to their efforts." Behnke envisions the military providing logistical and administrative support as well as patrolling non-populated areas, leaving the Border Patrol and INS free to concentrate on other areas such as ports of entry in order to eliminate long lines and encourage legal crossings and trade. He believes the FBI should actively investigate the "coyotes" who prey on human misery, and examine connections with corrupt individuals on both sides of the border.

Jim Behnke not only needs your vote, he needs your help in mounting the challenge against entrenched, incumbent RINO Jim Kolbe and his $1.6Million campaign war chest. He needs volunteers and he needs contributions. See what you can do to elect a man who has the right idea about what to do to protect our borders.

In fact to call him a RINO is not really fair to him. Jim Kolbe is a good solid Republican who thus far is to the right of George Bush. In addition, his economic credentials are strong. Kolbe will stay. And we need him. Don't lump him with McCain.

Strong economic credentials!? Don't lump him with McCain!!? Let's look at the American Conservative Union's ratings of those two, shall we?


Name           2001  2002  Lifetime
Jim Kolbe:     60    68    75 
John McCain:   61    81    84

Hmmm...looks like the ACU ranks Kolbe lower on the conservative scale than liberal RINO McCain. That's pretty bad and the ACU is actually kinder than I am in their rankings.

Now, let's look at the National Taxpayer's Union and their analysis of Kolbe's votes to increase or cut government spending:


Name   Increases  Cuts   Net      # of Bills   # of Bills   
                                  to Increase  to Decrease
                                  Spending     Spending 
Kolbe  $12,292   ($497) $11,795   27           4 

*Amounts are in Millions of Dollars

I thought a good Republican wanted to cut government spending, decrease taxes, and eliminate government largesse. In the last session of Congress he voted for 27 bills to increase spending by nearly $13Billion. Now, what were you saying about Kolbe?

The right to life is a pretty solid Republican issue. Let's see how various organizations rated Kolbe as reported by Project Vote Smart:

2001: On the votes that the Planned Parenthood considered to be the most important from 1995 to 2001, Representative Kolbe voted their preferred position 82 percent of the time.

2001: On the votes that the National Abortion Reproductive Rights Action League considered to be the most important in 2001, Representative Kolbe voted their preferred position 80 percent of the time.

2000: On the votes that the National Abortion Reproductive Rights Action League considered to be the most important in 2000, Representative Kolbe voted their preferred position 86 percent of the time.

1999-2000: On the votes that the National Right to Life Committee considered to be the most important in 1999-2000, Representative Kolbe voted their preferred position 35 percent of the time.

1999: On the votes that the National Abortion Reproductive Rights Action League considered to be the most important in 1999, Representative Kolbe voted their preferred position 69 percent of the time.

1999: On the votes that the National Right to Life Committee considered to be the most important in 1999, Representative Kolbe voted their preferred position 38 percent of the time.

1999: On the votes that the Planned Parenthood considered to be the most important in 1999, Representative Kolbe voted their preferred position 82 percent of the time.

I guess we'll just have to differ on whether he's a RINO or not. But, the fact is....

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